


the question.

by pyroallerdyce



Series: captured moments. [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Dinner, F/M, Nervous Ben Solo, One Shot Collection, Professor Ben Solo, Short One Shot, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22342561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: “Okay, first off, all that flirting that the two of you do?  That clearly says that she likes you.  Secondly, you are never going to find out if she likes you unless you ask her to do something outside of her being your waitress,” Poe said.  “Thirdly, stop being a coward.  Admit to yourself that you want to have dinner with her already and then ask her out.”Ben closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths.  “I can't.”or:  Ben's in the café and this time, Poe's not letting him off the hook when it comes to asking Rey out.
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: captured moments. [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602691
Comments: 12
Kudos: 79





	the question.

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are with more. 
> 
> And as always, if you like what you read here, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void. Enjoy!

Ben had been seated for all of zero point nine seconds when the chair across from him was pulled out and Poe was sitting down. “What do you want, Poe?”

“What I want is to tell you that you're being a fucking idiot,” Poe said seriously. “Ask her out already.”

“No,” Ben said, picking up his menu. “Stop this.”

“Then I'm definitely telling Leia that you met someone, and who that someone is, and then I'm going to make sure that she brings you here so that she can meet Rey herself.”

Ben sighed and set the menu back down. “I don't expect you to understand this. Zorii is your age.”

“Your father is thirteen years older than your mother,” Poe pointed out. “And things seem to have worked out just fine for them.”

Ben sighed again. “She wouldn't like me. I just have to accept that. And so do you.”

“Okay, first off, all that flirting that the two of you do? That clearly says that she likes you. Secondly, you are never going to find out if she likes you unless you ask her to do something outside of her being your waitress,” Poe said. “Thirdly, stop being a fucking coward. Admit to yourself that you want to have dinner with her already and then ask her out.”

Ben closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. “I can't.”

“The fuck you can't,” Poe said firmly. “You just aren't letting yourself for some reason that is, frankly, beyond stupid. What is the problem with asking her out? And I mean the actual problem, not this bullshit about your age difference.”

“I haven't,” Ben started and then stopped for a moment. “I have never met anyone that I feel this connection with without actually knowing them and it freaks me the fuck out, okay? It's been a month, Poe, a month. It's fucking terrifying.”

Poe stared at him as what Ben was actually saying hit him. “You cannot spend the rest of your life alone just because Luke lost Mara. Things like that happen to people. That doesn't mean that you should shut yourself away from all emotions for the rest of your life. And I know that's what you've been doing because it's been incredibly obvious for at least the last ten years. You've got to let yourself feel, Ben. You have to.”

“And as I said, that's fucking terrifying,” Ben said, looking up as Rey approached the table. “Good evening, Rey.”

“Good evening, Ben,” Rey said, setting down the coffee and water. “Hope you don't mind that I already got your drinks. It's the only thing you ever order so I figured it would be the same.”

Ben smiled at her. “No problem at all. How's the book coming?”

“Still in the same place I was last night,” Rey said. “I was too tired to read when I got home. I've been too tired to read for a few days, actually. Working this much is starting to take its toll.”

“I am working on getting some help so that you and Rose can have some time off,” Poe said. “I really mean that.”

“I know you are,” Rey said, smiling at him. “It's alright. The tips are really helping me actually be able to afford food to eat. Anyway, Ben, do you know what you want yet?”

Ben ordered his usual and Rey took the menu from him. “Be out in a bit. The kitchen's a little backed up today.”

“That's fine,” Ben said, and Rey smiled at him before walking away. 

“Ask her out,” Poe ordered. “It will make you happier. Trust me.”

“You are sort of the last person in the world that I want to get advice like this from, I hope you know that,” Ben said seriously. “You screwed up the one good thing that has ever happened to you. I don't know why you expect me to listen to you.”

“I expect you to listen to me because I'm trying to keep you from screwing up something good that can be happening to you,” Poe said strongly. “I do not want you to end up like me and Zorii.”

“There is no possible way that I can end up like you and Zorii,” Ben declared. “And you're an idiot for even saying that to me.”

“Ben, come on,” Poe exclaimed. “If you don't ask her out, you're going to be making a massive mistake. I know that putting yourself out there is something that you're really uncomfortable with, but you've got to do it. I know Luke told you that too. You've got to.”

Ben reached for his coffee and took a long sip. “I know I do,” he said quietly. “But as I said, I'm terrified.”

“Ask her,” Poe said softly. “Rey is a great girl. She's not going to be a bitch like the last one was.”

“I don't even want to think about the last one, thank you very much,” Ben said, shaking his head. “And I know she's not. But I still don't think she's going to like me.”

“And as I said, you're an idiot.”

Ben took another long sip. “I don't see how I am supposed to ask her to dinner when you've got her working every night.”

“I'll give her the night off. Just name the day.”

Ben took a deep breath. “You'll be down to one waitress.”

“I'll wait the tables myself,” Poe said seriously. “Name the day. If she says no, then I'll have her work. But she's not going to say no.”

Ben set his cup back on the table and twirled it around in his hands. “You really think I should do this?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Do I have to do it tonight?”

Poe let out a small laugh. “If you don't do it tonight, you're never going to do it. And you know that.”

“What is today? Monday?”

Poe laughed for real this time. “You have managed to forget that it's Monday?”

“Shut up,” Ben muttered. “Friday. I'll ask her to have dinner with me on Friday.”

“Then Rey has Friday off,” Poe said, smiling at him. “This will go fine, I promise.”

“You can't promise me that,” Ben said, shaking his head. “You really can't.”

“I can and I will,” Poe said, standing up. “If you haven't done this by the time you leave, then I'm calling Leia on my way home.”

Ben sucked in a sharp breath. “I hate you.”

“No, you really don't,” Poe said, walking away. “Friday. I'll mark that down now.”

Ben swallowed hard and reached for his cup again, his throat suddenly incredibly dry. He hadn't asked a girl out in nearly a decade, far more content to pick up a girl for a night at a bar every once and a while. His last relationship had been an absolute disaster, so he wasn't entirely confident that any future relationships wouldn't be either. Mara had died right after that relationship had ended, and the combination of the pain he felt at losing his aunt and seeing Luke so heartbroken had made him decide that he was never going to be a victim of that kind of pain. He was never going to put himself in that position.

He knew deep down that this was absolutely ridiculous. He was going to have to reach this point with someone someday, if only to shut his mother up. And it was not like he really wanted to be alone. He just didn't want to feel that pain of losing someone again. Closing himself off to all of that was the only way to be sure of that not happening.

But now he had met Rey, and Rey made him feel things that he'd sworn he'd never feel again. And it terrified him, absolutely terrified him, to think that he could still feel those things. But at the same time, he couldn't help the fact that feeling those things also made him feel really good. 

Rey made him feel good.

Ben closed his eyes and reached for his coffee again, taking a long sip and just listening to the atmosphere around him. If he was going to do this, and he was going to if for no other reason than to stop Poe from calling Leia, then he needed to figure out what to say to her. He didn't want to come across as some lowlife who had been leering at her while she worked. This had to be done in the right way.

“Do you want some more coffee, Ben?”

Ben opened his eyes to see Rey standing there smiling at him, and he slid his cup closer to her. “That would be great, Rey. Thank you.”

“You look tired today, if you don't mind me saying so.”

“I am tired today,” Ben confirmed. “It was a long day of dealing with students who didn't read their syllabus and were therefore confused about their grades.”

Rey laughed. “I used to be guilty of not reading my syllabus sometimes. I almost failed one of my math classes because of it.”

“Yes, well, I'm more than happy to fail these students,” Ben said honestly. “They barely pay attention during my lectures, their attempts at homework are laughable at best, and then they come whining to me because their grade isn't what they think it should be. They needed to realize that this paper was twenty percent of their grade long before they came to my office complaining about it.”

“Twenty percent of their grade?” Rey asked. “Wow.”

“As I said, I am more than happy to fail them,” Ben said, running his hands over his face. “Rey, I...”

Rey heard her name be called out and smiled at him. “Tell me in a minute, okay?”

Ben nodded as Rey walked away, and then he saw Poe look over at him questioningly. Ben shook his head quickly, making Poe roll his eyes and mimic a phone to his ear. Ben groaned and nodded before Poe turned his attention back to what he was doing. He sat there looking around the café for a moment before he realized that he was going to have to come up with somewhere for them to go on this date if Rey said yes, and that suddenly became a problem.

Ben only ever ate at the café, and he certainly couldn't bring Rey on a date to the place that she worked.

Fuck. Now he had something else to worry about.

He had his phone out before he could think about it, scrolling through a list of restaurants in town and immediately vetoing three-fourths of them because they were too close to the university. Most of the restaurants around his building were fast-food joints, and he definitely was not taking Rey to one of those. He knew practically nothing about any of the restaurants that were left, and Ben sighed heavily when he realized that the only way he wasn't going to fuck this up entirely would be if he asked his mother for a good recommendation.

Of course, that meant that Leia was going to find out about all of this, but Ben wasn't sure that Poe wouldn't just tell her anyway. Poe telling her that it was happening would be such a Poe thing to do, even though he'd claim that he'd never do it.

It was a while before Rey came back to the table with his food, and when she set it down, Ben took a deep breath. “Rey, I...”

Rey heard her name be called out again and gave Ben an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Ben. I'll be back as soon as I can.”

Ben nodded and reached for his food as she walked away, and when he looked up and saw Poe staring at him again, he rolled his eyes. Poe gave him another questioning look and when Ben shook his head again, Poe headed in his direction. “I swear to God, I am serious about calling Leia.”

“I'm going to do it, but she's been here for like ten seconds and then called away every time that I attempt to,” Ben said seriously. “When I get an actual chance to talk to her, I will do it. Right now, I'm preoccupied with a different problem.”

“And what is that?”

“Where am I going to take her? I only ever eat here.”

Poe sighed and reached out, smacking Ben on the head. “You're an idiot.”

“Fuck off.”

“Ask her first. Worry about the restaurant second,” Poe said as he walked away. 

Ben reached for his silverware and turned his attention to his food, and he was nearly finished with it before Rey approached the table again. “Mind if I join you? It's my break.”

Ben looked up at her with a smile. “Please,” he said, motioning to the chair across from his. 

Rey smiled and sat down, sighing heavily. “It's been a long day for me too. I've been here since open.”

“Poe really is working on getting you some help,” Ben said. “I know it might not feel like it, but it's the truth.”

“I know he is. But until he gets the help, I'm going to be exhausted.”

Ben reached for his glass of water and took a big sip to try and calm his nerves. It was asking a girl to have dinner with him. It wasn't like standing in front of a hall full of students and giving a lecture.

Except Ben felt completely at home standing in a hall full of students and giving a lecture. He did not feel completely at home about this.

“You should do something fun on your next day off then,” he started, and Rey laughed.

“At the rate this is going, my next day off will be in three months. But thanks for the advice, Ben.”

Ben swallowed hard and tried again. “I just mean that maybe there is a way you can get a day off soon. Like Friday.”

“Why would Poe give me Friday off? That's one of the busiest nights of the week.”

Ben took a deep breath and forced himself to say it. “Well, I thought maybe that you would want to go have dinner with me, and Poe said he would give you the day off if you said yes.”

The moment he said it, Ben cringed. “Fuck, I didn't mean that.”

Rey's expression was unreadable to him. “You didn't mean what?”

“That having dinner with me would be a way to get a day off,” Ben said, running his hands over his face. “Fuck, I am terrible at this.”

Rey sat there for a moment before breaking out into a smile. “Are you really asking me out on a date?”

Ben nodded. “As I said, I'm terrible at this. It's been a really long time since I've asked someone out.”

“How long?” Rey asked, and Ben knew that he was about to be terribly embarrassed.

“A decade,” he said quietly, ducking his head down. “I had my reasons, but you...you're great.”

Rey sat there in shock for a moment before coughing slightly. “Wow. Um, well, yeah.”

“You can say no. It's fine.”

“I don't want to say no,” Rey said, and Ben looked up at her. 

“What?”

“I'm saying yes,” Rey said with a smile. “I will have dinner with you on Friday, and not just to have the day off.”

Ben swallowed hard. “Really?”

Rey nodded. “Really.”

Ben took a deep breath and smiled at her. “Then I'll make sure you have the day off.”

Rey heard her name be called out and sighed, standing up. “I'll write my number down for you before you leave, okay? But I apparently need to go back to work now.”

“Well, I'm not going anywhere for a while, so I'll be here.”

Rey grinned at him. “I'm looking forward to Friday.”

“Me too.”

Rey walked away and Ben sat back in his seat, reaching for his water and drinking half the glass down in one sip. He'd done it. He'd asked. Rey had said yes. The hard part was over.

Except the hard part was just beginning and he knew it.


End file.
